`Slow Me Down, Lord'

Syndicated Columnist DEAR ABBY

Dear Readers: Recently I received a letter from Lilian Thorpe of Pinehurst, N.C., advising me that her father, Wilferd Peterson, had passed away.

Mr. Peterson, 94, was best known as the author of the "Art of Living" books, eight volumes of essays that appeared in 42 Sunday newspaper magazines during the 1960s and '70s.

His thoughts on success from The Art of Living Treasure Chest (Simon and Schuster, 1977):

"Success is doing the things you know you should do. Success is not doing the things you know you should not do. Success is discovering your best talents, skills and abilities, and applying them where they will make the most effective contribution to your fellow man. Success is not arriving at the summit of a mountain as a final destination. It is a continuing upward spiral of progress."

To honor his memory, here is Slow Me Down, Lord, a poem that has appeared in my column over the years.

Slow me down, Lord!

Ease the pounding of my heart By the quieting of my mind.

Steady my harried pace With a vision of the eternal reach of time.

Give me, Amidst the confusions of my day, The calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tensions of my nerves With the soothing music of the sighing streams That live in my memory.

Help me to know The magical restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art Of taking minute vacations of slowing down to look at a flower; To chat with an old friend or to make a new one; To pat a stray dog; To watch a spider build a web; To smile at a child; Or to read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me each day That the race is not always to the swift; That there is more to life than increasing its speed.

Let me look upward Into the branches of the towering oak And know that it grew slowly and well.

Slow me down, Lord, And inspire me to send my roots deep Into the soil of life's enduring values That I may grow toward the stars Of my greater destiny.